| History of the Basques |
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The greater Basque Country comprises the Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain and the Northern Basque Country in France. The Prehistory of the region begins with the arrival of the first hominin settlers during the Paleolithic and lasts until the conquest and colonisation of Hispania by the Romans after the Second Punic War, who introduced comprehensive administration, writing and regular recordings.[1]
Basque people are the only Western Europeans that speak a non-Indo-European language - Euskera - without having any known contemporary European ethnic or linguistic relatives.[2] A 2015 DNA study supports the idea that the Basques descend from Neolithic farmers who mixed with local hunters and were subsequently isolated for millennia.[3][4]
- ^ "Conquest of Hispania". Heritage History. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
- ^ "Ancient DNA cracks puzzle of Basque origins". BBC. September 7, 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
- ^ Günther, Torsten; Valdiosera, Cristina; Malmström, Helena; Ureña, Irene; Rodriguez-Varela, Ricardo; Sverrisdóttir, Óddny Osk; Daskalaki, Evangelia A.; Skoglund, Pontus; Naidoo, Thijessen; Svensson, Emma M.; Bermúdez De Castro, José María; Carbonell, Eudald; Dunn, Michael; Storå, Jan; Iriarte, Eneko; Arsuaga, Juan Luis; Carretero, José-Miguel; Götherström, Anders; Jakobsson, Mattias (July 29, 2015). "Ancient genomes link early farmers from Atapuerca in Spain to modern-day Basques". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (38). National Academy of Sciences.: 11917–11922. doi:10.1073/pnas.1509851112. PMC 4586848. PMID 26351665.
- ^ Ellen Levy-Coffman. "We Are Not Our Ancestors: Evidence for Discontinuity between Prehistoric and Modern Europeans - The Basque: Reflections of a Paleolithic Past?" (PDF). Journal of Genetic Genealogy. Retrieved December 29, 2017.